LinkedIn Live: Be an Early Adopter!
By Stanley Meytin
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has thrown its hat into the video livestreaming game. It’s old-hat for competing social media networks like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram – but it’s a sure sign that LinkedIn has finally made a full commitment to supporting video on the platform.
“Live has been the most requested feature,” LinkedIn’s director of product management Pete Davies recently told the TechCrunch website during an interview. Linkedin Live currently is invite-only as it rolls out in the United States first.
While YouTube and Twitter might be known as real and gritty, LinkedIn has always pushed for professional and polished – fitting for a social platform that’s all about work-related networking. LinkedIn Live utilizes a collection of third-party broadcast streaming services such as Brandlive, Socialive, Switcher Studio, Wirecast, and Wowza Media Systems. It should also come as no surprise that LinkedIn will rely on video encoding from Microsoft’s Azure Media Services.
LinkedIn may be late to the party, but there’s no reason why it can’t catch up. Especially when, as Davies points out, that video on LinkedIn boosts engagement with 30 percent more comments per session and an almost threefold increase in time spent watching. There’s money to be made from the platform’s 610 million users in more than 200 countries as LinkedIn continues its transformation from a stuffy corporate resume-sharing site to a B2B powerhouse where entrepreneurs and business professionals can rub virtual elbows.
LinkedIn Live: Leverages
Video is the preferred medium for consumers, as well as 87 percent of marketing professionals. Its trackability and measurability allows organizations to actually establish ROI instead of guessing at it. It’s why 88 percent of video marketers say they are satisfied with and will grow their usage of video.
From a B2B perspective, video can’t be beaten. 72 percent of those surveyed say they would rather use video to learn about a product or service – which is why it comes as no surprise that 99 percent of businesses who use video say they’ll continue to do so. Video is also the preferred medium of millennials. Pay attention. That’s important. Google reports that 46 percent of all B2B researchers and buyers are between the ages of 18 to 24. Millennials represent the largest group of B2B prospects, more than twice as many as the next demographic.
When it’s fully rolled out, LinkedIn Live will offer you a powerful way to reach this group of B2B prospects. The question is: will you have a strategy in place to use live streaming to reach them? Here are some suggestions.
Events and conferences
The B-Word continues to rain on everyone’s parade. Whether you want to attend or host them, conferences and events represent a considerable budget commitment. LinkedIn Live offers the opportunity to attract a considerably larger virtual attendance. LinkedIn Live’s real-time comment features mean that presenters can take questions from people watching the livestream. As a marketer, you can take virtual participants behind the scenes and interview attendees to help prospects bring your brand into their worldview.
Interviews and Q&A sessions
Cross a whitepaper with video and what do you get? A powerful educational tool that helps prospects see how they can use your product or service based on its utilization by other organizations. Now, Imagine the ability for real-time commenters to engage in the dialog. If there’s one area where LinkedIn Live has a massive edge, it’s the ability to connect your existing customers with prospects and let the advocacy begin.
Demonstrations and product releases
We won’t go as far as Quartzy and say that unboxing videos are going to take over the world, but nobody can argue that video is unparalleled at visual storytelling. Seeing a product or service in action sells it – and the addition of the real-time comment feed means that viewers can immediately get their questions answered. The live aspect also deepens transparency and validity. It’s happening as people are watching.
Frequent and informal engagements
Your newsletter goes out on the first Wednesday of the month. The podcast hits streams early Monday morning to catch the commute. You’ve already established a routine with your push media. Now you have the opportunity to create a regularly anticipated two-way engagement using LinkedIn Live. Use it as a way to offer insight and education about a topic that impacts your customers, or offer a wrap-up of what’s happening in your industry. It’s a way to establish yourself as a subject matter expert.
What’s your strategy?
Our advice is that you jump in now and start experimenting with LinkedIn Live while it’s still in the experimental state itself. It allows you to be glitchy while the platform works out their own glitches. Surf the learning curve along with the rest of businesses and entrepreneurs who are early adopters. Remember, though, that LinkedIn is a network for business professionals. Livestreaming does not absolve you from abandoning quality or your brand identity.
Organizations that successfully use video have strategies in place which determine what and how they use it based on why it will be effective for them. This strategy doesn’t change just because it’s a livestream.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
By Stanley Meytin
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has thrown its hat into the video livestreaming game. It’s old-hat for competing social media networks like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram – but it’s a sure sign that LinkedIn has finally made a full commitment to supporting video on the platform.
“Live has been the most requested feature,” LinkedIn’s director of product management Pete Davies recently told the TechCrunch website during an interview. Linkedin Live currently is invite-only as it rolls out in the United States first.
While YouTube and Twitter might be known as real and gritty, LinkedIn has always pushed for professional and polished – fitting for a social platform that’s all about work-related networking. LinkedIn Live utilizes a collection of third-party broadcast streaming services such as Brandlive, Socialive, Switcher Studio, Wirecast, and Wowza Media Systems. It should also come as no surprise that LinkedIn will rely on video encoding from Microsoft’s Azure Media Services.
LinkedIn may be late to the party, but there’s no reason why it can’t catch up. Especially when, as Davies points out, that video on LinkedIn boosts engagement with 30 percent more comments per session and an almost threefold increase in time spent watching. There’s money to be made from the platform’s 610 million users in more than 200 countries as LinkedIn continues its transformation from a stuffy corporate resume-sharing site to a B2B powerhouse where entrepreneurs and business professionals can rub virtual elbows.
LinkedIn Live: Leverages
Video is the preferred medium for consumers, as well as 87 percent of marketing professionals. Its trackability and measurability allows organizations to actually establish ROI instead of guessing at it. It’s why 88 percent of video marketers say they are satisfied with and will grow their usage of video.
From a B2B perspective, video can’t be beaten. 72 percent of those surveyed say they would rather use video to learn about a product or service – which is why it comes as no surprise that 99 percent of businesses who use video say they’ll continue to do so. Video is also the preferred medium of millennials. Pay attention. That’s important. Google reports that 46 percent of all B2B researchers and buyers are between the ages of 18 to 24. Millennials represent the largest group of B2B prospects, more than twice as many as the next demographic.
When it’s fully rolled out, LinkedIn Live will offer you a powerful way to reach this group of B2B prospects. The question is: will you have a strategy in place to use live streaming to reach them? Here are some suggestions.
Events and conferences
The B-Word continues to rain on everyone’s parade. Whether you want to attend or host them, conferences and events represent a considerable budget commitment. LinkedIn Live offers the opportunity to attract a considerably larger virtual attendance. LinkedIn Live’s real-time comment features mean that presenters can take questions from people watching the livestream. As a marketer, you can take virtual participants behind the scenes and interview attendees to help prospects bring your brand into their worldview.
Interviews and Q&A sessions
Cross a whitepaper with video and what do you get? A powerful educational tool that helps prospects see how they can use your product or service based on its utilization by other organizations. Now, Imagine the ability for real-time commenters to engage in the dialog. If there’s one area where LinkedIn Live has a massive edge, it’s the ability to connect your existing customers with prospects and let the advocacy begin.
Demonstrations and product releases
We won’t go as far as Quartzy and say that unboxing videos are going to take over the world, but nobody can argue that video is unparalleled at visual storytelling. Seeing a product or service in action sells it – and the addition of the real-time comment feed means that viewers can immediately get their questions answered. The live aspect also deepens transparency and validity. It’s happening as people are watching.
Frequent and informal engagements
Your newsletter goes out on the first Wednesday of the month. The podcast hits streams early Monday morning to catch the commute. You’ve already established a routine with your push media. Now you have the opportunity to create a regularly anticipated two-way engagement using LinkedIn Live. Use it as a way to offer insight and education about a topic that impacts your customers, or offer a wrap-up of what’s happening in your industry. It’s a way to establish yourself as a subject matter expert.
What’s your strategy?
Our advice is that you jump in now and start experimenting with LinkedIn Live while it’s still in the experimental state itself. It allows you to be glitchy while the platform works out their own glitches. Surf the learning curve along with the rest of businesses and entrepreneurs who are early adopters. Remember, though, that LinkedIn is a network for business professionals. Livestreaming does not absolve you from abandoning quality or your brand identity.
Organizations that successfully use video have strategies in place which determine what and how they use it based on why it will be effective for them. This strategy doesn’t change just because it’s a livestream.
What story would you like to share?
Whether you want to launch an idea, spark a movement or simply get people talking about what you do, you have one shot
at delivering your message in a way that matters. Let’s make sure you do it right.
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